1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to blade sharpeners and in particular to blade sharpeners that can be folded into a compact unit.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Knives and other blades have been typically hand sharpened using one hand held sharpening stone. The stone is held directly in one hand and the knife's sharp edge is rubbed against the stone. This is a dangerous method of sharpening knives since the blade can slip from the stone and cut the hand holding the stone. Further, the knife must be turned in the hand continuously to sharpen both sides of the knife blade when using a single stone, which results in a tedious task.
A pair of sharpening stones attached to the same base, whereby the knife blade is drawn along the sharpening stone in a downward direction has solved the above-mentioned problem. One such sharpener is described in the Lohmann U.S. Pat. No. 2,674,072 wherein a pair of sharpening stones are fixed to diverging arms which are in turn affixed to a base member. This sharpener has the drawback of being bulky and a problem to store, due to the diverging arms.
An attempt to reduce the bulkiness of such a double stone sharpener is taught in the Graves U.S. Pat. No. 3,894,362 in which ceramic rods are placed in holds drilled in an elongated base. After use, the ceramic rods are taken out of the base and stored in an unattached relationship with the base. The unattached rods are easily lost or misplaced.